“Hey!”
“Mmmm, I needed that.”
“That was mine,” I moaned and got back up.
What was it with people and my coffee? I needed that to feel remotely normal. I was just pouring another cup when Ty walked past the kitchen, he stepped back and tilted his head at the table signaling the start of the meeting.
I followed him out and sat in my usual seat. Luke was now next to Kitty, grinning at me when I smiled.
He’d been a god send these last few weeks with Eli. The other guys were great with him but Luke was able to relate with Eli so much more.
I loved the bond they had. Eli needed good male role models and now he had three.
“What have we found?” Ty asked Evan who was still clicking away, the tapping of the keys loud in the otherwise silent warehouse.
“One sec,” he held up a finger.
The warehouse door opened a crack and they all jumped up, Ty’s hand resting on his belt signaling that he was about to grab his gun. I sat there with wide eyes and watched Luke rush to the other side of the door.
Charlie's face peeked through “Hey” he grinned.
“What the fuck?” Ty let his hand drop
“I called him.” Evan said and turned the laptop round.
“Could have said something,” Luke moaned sitting back at the table.
“Can I?” Charlie said pointing to the chair next to me.
My back straightened, I didn’t think he’d do anything to me but that didn’t stop the feeling that spread through me.
He either didn’t see my reaction or he didn’t care because he sat down and grinned at me. On instinct I moved closer to Ty, my hands clutched in my lap and my knee bobbing up and down.
Ty’s hand gripped my knee stopping the movement. I moved my eyes to him, he nodded telling me that he was here.
He knew.
He could read me so well. He always knew.
“First thing,” Evan pointed to the screen. “He’s not working alone.”
“Who’s he working with?” Kitty leaned forward.
“I don’t know that yet” Kitty rolled her eyes at Evan and sat back.
“How do you know he’s not working alone?” Ty asked.
“Because I found entries that name Daley.”
“So?” Kitty sneered.
“If he was working alone he wouldn’t have put his own name in” I interrupted.
Evan snapped his fingers and pointed to me. “Exactly.”
So this meant we were looking for more than one person. This job just got a whole lot harder.
“So how does Daley fit in?”
“I don’t know” Evan shook his head at Ty.
“All the information we had said that he was at the top” Charlie frowned.
“And where did you get that information?” Kitty sneered in a way that I hadn’t heard her talk before.
I scanned Kitty and Charlie. They were staring at each other, having some kind of silent conversation.
“Put your claws away Kitty,” he rolled his eyes and turned to Ty. “Bro, we were told he was working alone.”
Ty nodded drumming his fingers on my knee. I bit my lip as I tried to concentrate the sensation distracting.
“I managed to get into the encrypted files but nothing makes much sense,” Evan huffed “but I know that they took another girl Friday night.”
“Fuck.” Ty spluttered.
They took another girl? While we were out trying to get this information they were taking another girl away from her family?
I felt sick. Physically sick.
“We haven’t had any missing person’s reports.” Charlie pulled out his phone.
“She was taken from the road leading up to the country club”
“How do you know that?” I asked.
Charlie tapped away on his phone and looked back up to Evan and then Ty.
“No reports.”
“All the girls are named after the location they were taken from” Evan answered me.
I couldn’t bear to think what was happening to her right now, how her parents must be feeling. It made me want to lock Eli away and never let him out again.
“Do you know who she is?”
“No”, Evan shook his head “It’s got everything but her real name.”
Everyone was silent.
“We need to scout out the country club.” Ty leaned back, his fingers dragging up my leg with the motion.
I shivered.
“How you going to do that?” Charlie asked.
“Go on a date.”
I didn’t want to admit the jealousy that I was feeling at that moment. The small ember expanded until I felt like my entire insides were on fire.
“Kitty, you check the cameras, see if you can get an ID on the girl”
“On it” she nodded.
“Luke, you’re on Daley. Charlie, Evan my office” I stayed silent, afraid that if I opened my mouth I’d say something that I might regret.
They all scattered leaving just me and Ty at the table.
His hand squeezed my thigh once before he stood “Need to see you after” winking at me he strolled into the office.
Well damn.
*~*~*
I spent the rest of the day helping Evan sort through all the information that he hadn’t managed to get through. Kitty had gotten a hold of the recording of the girl being taken but we couldn’t see who took her.
She wasn’t taken how I imagined she would have been. I was thinking that someone would have knocked her out and thrown her into the back of a van.
She was standing on the edge of the road that led up to the country club and when a car pulled up beside her she got in. It almost looked like she was waiting for them. The only odd thing was the door opening and her leg coming out before the car sped off with the door still open.
The day went so fast and we still hadn’t got anywhere by the time I had to go and pick Eli up with Luke.
I still hadn’t braved taking and picking Eli up on my own and I honestly didn’t know when I would be ready for that. But it was a step in the right direction to be going outside those gates.
Me and Eli spent the evening Sat on the couch watching TV.
It was nice to have some time just me and him, it felt like I didn’t get to do it that often now and I missed having that time alone with him.
His small snores sounded just before bedtime. I sat there and watched him sleep, relishing in the peaceful look on his face. I couldn’t comprehend how anyone couldn’t love him to pieces.
Max flashed in my mind briefly. He was missing out on all of this.
It was his loss. Eli wouldn’t be this small forever, he was already growing so fast it felt like only yesterday that I held him as a baby.
The front door opened just as I was dropping off to sleep.
“Ty?”
“It’s me,” his deep voice responded.
“Oh hey.” I cleared my throat “I’m just going to put Eli to bed then I’ll clean the kitchen.” I shuffled to the edge of the couch.
“I’ve got it,” he lifted Eli with ease and went up the stairs.
I watched him all the way up. How had I managed to find someone like him? Max would never have done that. He would have complained about us being on the couch and then shouted abuse at me which in turn would have woken Eli and disturbed him for the whole night.
It was a stark reminder how much my life had changed.
This is what it was like to be normal, to live with someone who cared.
Pushing up off the couch I walked to the kitchen and started to clean up the mess I’d left after dinner. My hands were in the bowl of water washing the dishes when Ty came in.
“You know we’ve got a dishwasher, right?” Ty chuckled.
“I know,” I rolled my eyes at him and washed a spoon “But I like to do it by hand.”
I put the spoon on the drying rack just before Ty leaned against it. He crossed his arms over his chest,
my eyes wandered before they met his.
I swallowed at the look he gave me.
“So this date.”
“Mmmm,” I looked away. He was so intense sometimes.
“How does Friday sound?”
“Yeah, sounds good.” I nodded and willed my voice to stay normal. I scrubbed the plate and placed it next to the spoon.
“Good,” he leaned forward and planted a kiss on my cheek. “Be ready at eight.” My eyes widened, he’d just kissed my cheek. I was so use to the peck he’d give me on my head that him kissing my cheek startled me. It was such a normal couple thing to do, but we weren’t a couple. Right?
It was probably all in my head.
Wait.
Ready at eight? What did I need to be ready for?
“What for?” I turned, water dripping from my hands and onto the floor. I’d have to clean that up as well.
“Our date” he grinned and pushed open the door.
“Huh?” I frowned.
“Sweetheart,” he smiled, his eyes alight “I just asked you out on a date. You didn’t think I’d be taking anyone else, did you?”
“I…I…just assumed?”
“Be ready at eight,” he winked, walking out. I stared at the door expecting him to come back and say that he was joking.
This was for work though, so did that mean this was a work date or a date date.
I hadn’t got a clue turning back to the sink I was more confused than ever.
Chapter Twenty-Four
I knocked on Kitty’s door and waited for her to answer. I’d wanted to ask her all day what all of this meant, what she thought Ty was thinking. But I didn’t want to say anything in front of the others so I’d waited until Eli was in bed and told Ty that Kitty needed to talk to me.
He frowned at me and asked me why I was telling him. When I told him that I thought I should ask him if I could go he opened and closed his mouth like a fish. Shaking his head I could see the anger building up behind his eyes.
“Go,” he had said and practically shoved me out the door. “You don’t need permission to do anything.”
So now here I was standing at Kitty’s door, waiting for her to answer whilst I had a mini melt down.
“Oh…Hey,” she said once she opened the door.
“Hey, can we talk?” I whispered.
“Sure,” she pulled the door open wide and waved me in.
I’d never been inside Kitty’s house. It was a small cottage with plants climbing up the walls and a garden path that was lined with potted plants.
The inside was just as small as the outside. Four doors led off the tiny hallway and I followed Kitty through the second, into the kitchen.
“Want something to drink?” she asked opening the fridge and pulled out a couple of beers.
“No thanks.” I shook my head and looked round the kitchen. It was tiny but it suited Kitty, the window over the sink looked out into the woods, much like in Ty’s.
“So, what’s up?”
“Uhh…” I swallowed and twisted my hands.
Now that I’d come here I couldn’t get what I wanted to ask her out of my mouth. I tried to clear my throat several times but each time I did and opened my mouth nothing would come out.
“You need to calm down chicka.” She nodded down at my hands noticing how I was wringing them, I took a deep breath and released them.
“Come on” she pushed through the door, I followed her into the living room trying my hardest to get a hold of myself.
This room was almost as small as the kitchen, I couldn’t imagine all of the guys being able to get in here at the same time. The image of all of them squeezed in this tiny room relieved some of the tension I was feeling.
The walls were covered with black and white striped wallpaper, all of the furniture mismatched but had that retro kind of look.
Quirky. Just like Kitty.
“Tell me what’s going on,” she sat cross legged in her wing backed leather chair.
“Well.” I sat down on the couch opposite her “Ty asked me out on a date.”
“Really?” she grinned.
“But it’s only to check out the country club, so it’s not really a date. I mean it’s like a fake date right?”
“Kay-”
“I mean he wouldn’t be interested in me,” I rolled my eyes “We might have kissed but it was-”
“Wait, wait, wait,” she held her hand up “You kissed?” her eyes were wide as saucers.
“Err…yes?”
“Start from the beginning” she sat back and waited for me to talk. “And don’t miss a thing out” she pointed.
How much did I tell her? What if Ty didn’t want everybody to know?
I looked around and stared at Kitty, I trusted her. It was a gut feeling and I’d learned to listen to my gut so I told her everything. I told her about the kisses, him getting into bed with me after I had nightmares. I even told her about Corey.
“So Corey is your brother?”
“Yes.” I nodded.
“Wow,” she stared at me.
I sat and waited.
All I could think about was, if this was a real date or not. If it was then I didn’t know if I was ready, what if it went wrong? What if I did something wrong? Then I’d have nobody. He’d become such a big part of our lives that I didn’t know what I’d do without him.
“So he said ‘I just asked you out on a date’ Those were his exact words?”
“Yes,” she leaned back in her chair a smile growing on her face.
“Chicka, that means he asked you out on a date”
“Really?”
“Uh huh,” she leaned forward “Wow, this is big.”
“It is?”
“Oh yeah, he hasn’t dated since-” she shook her head and stood. “You need something to wear”
“I do?” she grabbed my hand and lifted me off the couch.
“Yeah, you do. It’s the country club. When did you say you’re going?”
“Friday.” I said as she led me into her bedroom.
“So we’ve got two days to get you ready”
“I need two days?” I frowned.
She opened her wardrobe and started to look through all of her clothes.
“Yeah,” she pulled out a dress and laid it on her bed. “You need to shave, sort those caterpillars for brows out and-”
“My brows?” I said and covered them with my hand.
“Yeah, those things need to be sorted asap.” She pulled out a couple of pairs of pumps and put them down next to the dress.
“Don’t worry. I’ll help” she went back to the wardrobe and picked out several more dresses and tops and even a few skirts. By the time she was finished she had almost her entire wardrobe out.
“You sure this is enough?” I raised my ‘caterpillars’ and grinned.
“Hmmm, you’re right,” she pulled open a few drawers and started to empty those as well. I rolled my eyes, I’d never been good at sarcasm but I’m sure that was pretty obvious.
This was going to be a long night, so I sat down and waited until she was finished feeling like maybe I shouldn’t have asked.
“Okay, let’s try these on.”
“What? Now?”
“Yeah,” she pulled me up off the bed and handed me the first dress.
Yep, this was going to be a long night.
*~*~*
The light glints off the knife as he holds it by his waist. “You deserve this” he sneers. My body won’t move, it’s stuck to the floor. I try to shout and panic when no sound comes out.
He throws his head back and laughs, his eyes darken as he gets closer.
“You’ll never escape me baby” he leans over me “I’ll always be there, watching, waiting”
I watch as his arm lifts up and comes back down in slow motion. I try one last time to call for help. Opening my mouth-
“Kay? Kay!”
“No please don’t!”
“It’s me, Ty.” My eyes
sprang open, Ty stood over me, a frown marred on his forehead.
“I…I…” I tried to catch my breath, my throat burning with each inhale.
“You’re okay sweetheart,” he caressed my face as he sat down on the bed.
“No”. I shook my head “It’s not okay, he’s right.”
“Who’s right?” I looked around, sure that he would be in the room with us.
“Max”. I croaked “He’ll always be there, I’ll never escape him.”
I held back a sob knowing that if I let it come out I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to stop. It was always the knife, he never used his fists in my nightmares only ever that knife.
“I won’t let him touch you Kay.” Ty grunted.
“You don’t understand,” I shook my head and turned to him. “He’ll always be here.” I tapped my head and met his gaze. “Right here, I can never forget what he did to me.”
I tried to keep calm, but the more I concentrated the less I could breath. My fingers started to tingle, my head spinning.
“Breathe Kay.” I shook my head, trying to tell him that I couldn’t.
I was having a heart attack. I slapped my chest trying to tell him without words.
“It’s just a panic attack.” Ty cupped my face in his hands and breathed with me.
“We’re gonna count, okay?” I nodded and listened to him count not moving my eyes from his.
“One, Two, Three, Four-” By the time he got to twenty I felt like I could breathe again.
I was so tired and mentally drained because I couldn’t get the rest that I needed. Sleep wasn’t helping, in fact it made it worse.
I lay back in the bed and turned on my side to face Ty.
“You want to talk about it?” he asked cupping the side of my face.
This is where I would always say no, but tonight something felt different. I wanted to tell him about Max, about all the things that happened. None of them knew what happened that day and for the first time I felt like I wanted to tell someone, for them to know more.
“Yes,” I whispered.
His eyes widened “Really?”
“I don’t want to talk about everything yet,” I cleared my throat “But maybe I can tell you what happened in my nightmare?”
“Whatever you want to do sweetheart” he said and lay down on his side mimicking the way I was lying, only a couple of inches between us.
Fractured Lies: Book 1 MAC Security Series Page 20